No Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. We need a moderate, South Florida Democrats tell their party.

A group of prominent current and former elected officials in Broward County is warning the Democratic Party that defeating President Donald Trump requires nominating a candidate who can appeal to a broad swath of the electorate — not one of the progressives running far to the left.

The group, which is calling itself the Real Solutions Caucus, said defeating Trump is the overriding goal for 2020. It sees 10 candidates — including former Vice President Joe Biden — as best equipped to appeal to swing voters in a handful of states that will decide the election.Pointedly not on the list: the two leading progressive presidential candidates, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

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Although Sanders and Warren consistently poll in second and third place behind Biden and together have the support of one-third of Democratic primary voters, members of the Real Solutions Caucus fear they are too far to the left, and nominating one of them increases the chances of a Trump victory.

“This election will be decided in a handful of swing states, each with significant groups of swing voters,” the caucus wrote in a “statement of principles” it plans to release Tuesday. “We intend to encourage candidates to adopt national positions that will appeal to swing voters in swing states, and we intend to encourage Democratic voters to support candidates that adopt these positions.”

The chairman of the group is Steve Geller, a Broward County commissioner and former Florida Senate Democratic leader. The other members of the steering committee are County Commissioners Mark Bogen and Tim Ryan, School Board member Patricia Good, former county Property Appraiser Lori Parrish, former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and state Sen. Perry Thurston, who is also a former Florida House Democratic leader.

Steve Geller, seen here being sworn as a Broward County commissioner on Nov. 22, 2016, is chairman of the Real Solutions Caucus, which believes the Democratic Party would have a better chance at defeating President Donald Trump with a centrist candidate and not a progressive. (JOE CAVARETTA / Sun Sentinel)

The group, which currently has 26 members, is coming down squarely on one side of a debate that comes up in every election cycle — but is particularly pronounced as Democrats try to figure out who they should nominate to challenge Trump.

One theory is that the best way to win is by running moderate-centrist candidates in hopes of appealing to middle of the road voters. The other theory is that it’s better to nominate a liberal candidate who can generate excitement among the party’s base and propel the candidate to victory in November.

“It is our judgment that the base has already been energized by Donald Trump,” Geller said in an interview. While appealing to the Democratic Party’s base voters is important, Geller said caucus members believe that swing voters will decide the election because of the importance of a handful of states in the Electoral College.

“This is not a national election. You can pile up a 5 million vote majority in California, a 3 million vote majority in New York, and if you lose by 50,000 votes in Pennsylvania or Michigan, it has the same impact,” Geller said.

Even though many on the list haven’t gotten much traction, Geller said even Bennet and Bullock, who are averaging less than 1% in polls, “showed promise.”

“We think that the candidates that we mentioned have a better chance of winning the swing voters in the swing states,” Geller said.

The chairman of the group is Steve Geller, a Broward County commissioner and former Florida Senate Democratic leader.

Other steering committee members are County Commissioners Mark Bogen and Tim Ryan, School Board member Patricia Good, former county Property Appraiser Lori Parrish, former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and state Sen. Perry Thurston, who is also a former Florida House Democratic leader.

Also in the caucus: Mayors Scott Brook of Coral Springs, Frank Ortis of Pembroke Pines and Hazelle Rogers of Lauderdale Lakes.

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Klein and former Commissioner Toby Feuer of Weston.

Geller’s brother, Joe Geller, a state representative whose district covers southeast Broward and northeast Miami-Dade County, is a prominent supporter of Biden.

Steve Geller said members of the group are committed to working on behalf of whomever the party nominates.

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“If it’s Bernie and if it’s Elizabeth Warren, we will be there helping them. I’m not saying they can’t win,” he said. “Donald Trump is going to call any of our nominees a scary socialist. But it’s much harder to make that stick with Joe Biden or Steve Bullock than it is with Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, particularly Bernie Sanders who’s run as a Democratic socialist.”

Melissa Ward-Peterson, who is an active volunteer in the Warren campaign, said she found the Real Solutions Caucus’s position “incredibly disappointing," and what looks like the party establishment acting as gatekeepers is the kind of thing that turns off many people. "It’s disappointing to have these leaders say, ‘We know what’s best,’”

Ward-Peterson, who is recording secretary of the Broward Democratic Party, said she was speaking for herself, not in her role as party officer.

Ward-Peterson said she has family members who are swing voters, said it’s also a mistake to assume a progressive candidate would have a harder time winning the general election than one of the moderates. “They are moved by someone with conviction and someone who’s consistent and stands up for what they believe,” she said. “Those are voters who appreciate no-B.S. candidates and are going to be looking for someone who has a consistent message and a consistent voice.”

Mitchell Stollberg, chairman of Broward Progressive Democrats of America, chairman of the Broward chapter of the group Our Revolution, and an active Sanders supporter, said the Democrats pushing for a moderate-centrist are “short sighted. None of those people can beat Trump.”

He doesn’t buy the analysis that moderate, swing voters are the bloc that Democrats needs to cater to.

“They’re full of crap,” Stollberg said. “As far as I’m concerned, the party needs to move to the left. The progressive movement is larger than ever before.”

He said average voters support key elements of Sanders’ platform, such as a Medicare for All government health program. “Don’t talk to me about private insurance. It’s immoral,” he said.

Cynthia Busch, chairwoman of the Broward Democratic Party and a member of the Democratic National Committee, said the party isn’t trying to tip the scales for or against a particular candidate or between centrists and progressives. “We learned from experience in 2016 how important neutrality is in a presidential primary," Busch said. “Senator Warren and Senator Sanders are very strong candidates right now.”

The 26 members of the Real Solutions Caucus describe themselves as “patriotic Americans who support the armed forces and veterans, capitalism, women’s rights, a well-funded public education system and our ally Israel.”

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Also, they said they support the democratic movement in Venezuela, an important issue to many people in Florida. They also favor “available and affordable access to health care while maintaining consumer choice” — which means allowing people to keep private health insurance and not forcing people into the government-run Medicare for All system advocated by some candidates.

The group’s statement of principles strongly condemns Trump: “We believe that our current president is an existential threat to our country and that we must do everything we can to prevent his re-election. We object to his constant lying, his divisiveness, his cozy relations with Russia and other totalitarian countries while fighting with our historical allies.”